It took the Thunder seven games against the Nuggets to finally find a solution against strong defenses, but still had trouble during the Western Conference finals opener as the Timberwolves played with a physical man-to-man scheme. It took some time, as they finally found a way through in the second half.
However, the top-seeded Oklahoma City has thrived with their defensive versatility, who has helped them even through poor offensive nights. Game 1 was no exception, as they converted Minnesota‘s 19 turnovers into 31 points, and ended up with a 114-88 victory.
“We try to play to our identity,” said main MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who ended the night with 31 points despite starting out with 2 of 13 from the floor in the first half. “We did a good job of that on defense. Our defense definitely gave us life early in the game and kept us in it.”
OKC even trailed by four points at halftime, after reaching 44 points of which 18 were off of turnovers. “I just thought it took us a second to calibrate to the opponent, but our defense allowed us the margin to do that,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault after an impactful second half.
“We just got a phenomenal defensive team,” veteran Alex Caruso shared postgame. “It’s a collection of great individual defenders that also play great team defense. And then once we get on the break, young legs, all those dudes are running [and] dunking.”
In the playoffs, Oklahoma City has the NBA’s highest turnovers per contest, which is an increase from their already league-leading 17 during regular season. “The turnovers are never what we talk about,” Daigneault said. “We talk crowding around the ball. We talk about being aggressive in our help, trusting our help, trusting our scheme, trusting our teammates.”
OKC was only able to drop in 37.5% of their shots from the floor in the first half, but eventually hit 70 points on 61.9% in the second half. “But it also yields tough shots, out-of-rhythm shots. So that’s what we’re trying to do. But the guys did a great job of drumming that up really from the jump,” the coach added.
